[img_assist|nid=298|title=Gov. Deval Patrick (D-Milton) at a 2006 campaign rally|desc=Getty Image|link=none|align=left|width=401|height=276]SALEM -- Gov. Deval Patrick (D-Milton) kicked off his 5-week town hall tour Tuesday, answering a wide range of questions but focusing on the rising cost of energy and his new education reform agenda.

Patrick was joined by Lieutenant Gov. Tim Murray (D-Worcester) and Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll (D) as well as several legislators in Armory Park in downtown Salem. Speaking from a stage set in front of a large American flag, Patrick spoke to an audience of about 200 people, fielding six questions in less than an hour as the sun set on a warm summer day.

In his opening remarks, Patrick said he believes these town halls are necessary to speak directly with the people he represents.

"We need an active and engaged media in order for the democracy to be strong," he said, "but I need a direct relationship with you. You need to hear from me in unfiltered terms and I need to hear from you in unfiltered terms. Because it's not interesting, purposeful or useful in my view if our policy is just about some abstract theoretical point. It's where policy touches people that it matters."

The governor also touched on the struggling economy early in his remarks, but assured the audience that Massachusetts is performing better than other states.

"In many respects Massachusetts has been holding its own, in relative terms," he said. "Our unemployment rate has gone down in the last year while the national unemployment has gone up."

Patrick said that the state must prepare itself by investing in infrastructure, energy sources and education to that it is ready when the economy cycles out of its current downturn.

"I'm here to remind you that all economies are cyclical," he said. "We will cycle out of this uncertain time and we better be ready as one commonwealth with a shared sense of priority and investment in each other to take advantage of that upswing when it comes."

The first question Patrick received came from a disabled audience member that relies on personal care attendants to help him with his every day activities. The questioner asked Patrick whether he would support increased wages and benefits for those attendants.

Patrick said he was sympathetic to the increase and that he supports personal care attendants' right to organize. "The state," he said, "needs to come forward to put a bogey down so you can start to bargain for wages."

The second question dealt with education and was critical of the MCAS standardized test. Patrick responded that he supports the MCAS as a graduation requirement, but said he is "deeply skeptical however, whether any single standardized test alone is enough to measure the whole of a child's intellectual development."

"Let me be clear, because this is a favorite for people to misinterpret when they report on it," he went on. "We're going to keep the MCAS. We're going to keep it as a graduation requirement but we are going to examine what is the suite of assessments that capture progress on all the dimensions of a student."

Patrick also suggested extending the length of a school day and even a school year to help students get more out of school.

"What we are trying to do for once is not act as if there are silver bullet answers to complex issues," he said, summing up his reform agenda. "It is time for us to look at comprehensively. And then we are going to try to implement this over a decade. It will take a while."

Patrick then faced a third question that addressed issues that undermine the special education program in the state. The governor referred the questioner to Mitchell Chester, the state's education commissioner.

Patrick was then asked about rising gasoline prices. "The fact of the matter is that's a world market and I don't control a world market," Patrick responded. Patrick also noted that the rising cost of oil will affect home heating costs and electricity prices.

He called on the audience to conduct an energy audit of their homes immediately and change the way they use energy - from carpooling, to telecommuting, to riding mass transit more.

Another audience member asked Patrick a tough question about the Group Insurance Commission, the state's health care plan that was offered to municipalities last year as part of the Municipal Partnership Act. In order to qualify for the GIC, 70 percent of the municipal unions had to sign on which made it difficult for many municipalities to qualify.

"It would be politically easier if it wasn't a negotiation," Patrick responded. "If you could just say we're moving, here's the deal from the GIC."

But, Patrick added, "we couldn't get that deal" passed.

In one of the more touching moments of the evening, a 10 year-old student gave a brief speech about how he raised over $2,000 in an attempt to keep his school's librarian from losing her job. When he heard about the staff cuts, the student said he "was really upset because not only was the librarian a staff person, she was my friend...I decided to go out and see if I could do something about it."

Patrick responded with a few points. "I hope you are not running for governor in 2010," he said to laughter from the crowd. "The second thought is that I love the lesson you just taught about acting like the community is yours and owning it."

"I am glad you got the lesson as deeply and personally as you have," he went on, "but I wish you didn't have to learn it that way. I wish we weren't asking ten year-olds to go out and raise money to keep the librarian in the school. I love that you stepped up."

The final question of the evening addressed a power plant in Salem that the questioner wanted closed.

Patrick wasn't willing to support shutting it down, however. "I have been in Salem a lot," he said. "Usually there is one set of applause for shutting it down and another set of applause for keeping it open. So it's not simple. It has a useful life; it has passed that useful life. It will probably wind down in time. I don't know exactly when that is."

While the audience applauded often throughout the night and listened intently to Patrick's responses, there were mixed reviews.

"He did OK," said Anna Reardon of Salem. "I'm opposed to MCAS because that's all the teachers teach all year - to that standardized test."

Others had a more critical view of the meeting and Patrick's education plan. Stephen Douglas, who works for the elementary school in Gloucester, said the questions on education missed the root of the problem. "What we see every day is waste," he said. "A lot of school staff thinks the state funding is an endless trough."

Douglas, 38, said that too many kids are placed on special education plans that don't need them. Those placements eat up the school's budget, he said.

Bridgett Douglas, 38, Stephen's wife, said Patrick is "totally beholden to the Massachusetts Teachers Association, so he's not going to confront them" on these issues. She also said that Patrick's answers were a "little vague and a little nebulous" for her liking and that Patrick was playing to a "friendly crowd."

Others in the crowd said the governor performed well. "I think he did great," said Elizabeth Neumeier, 56, of Gloucester. "I like the fact that he is willing to say what he knows and acknowledge what he doesn't."

In particular, she said, "the lessons he learned from the student were very powerful."